British Rail and Nationalisation

RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE RAILWAY BRITAIN

British Transport Commission (BTC)

Nationalisation also marked a separation of railway ancillary activities such as hotels, docks & shipping, police etc from the railways under the auspices of the British Transport Commission. The BTC came into operation on 1st January 1948. Its first chairman was Lord Hurcomb, with Miles Beevor as Chief Secretary. Its main holdings were the networks and assets of the Big Four railway companies. It also took over 55 other railway undertakings, 19 canal undertakings and 246 road haulage firms, as well as the work of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was already publicly owned. The nationalisation package also included the fleets of 'private owner wagons', which industrial concerns had used to transport goods on the railway networks.

The Transport Act 1947, HM Government
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/HMG_Act1947.pdf

The BTC was one of the largest industrial organisations in the world, at one time employing nearly 688,000 people. At first, the Commission did not directly operate transport services - these were the responsibility of the Commission's Executives. These were separately appointed, and operated under what were termed 'schemes of delegation'. The Act provided for five Executives, covering Docks & Inland Waterways, Hotels, London Transport, Railways, and Road Transport. The Railway Executive traded as "British Railways". In 1949, Road Transport was divided into separate Road Haulage and Road Passenger Executives, though the latter proved short-lived.

The Commission's extensive activities included:

· Advertising: British Transport Advertising sold space on premises and vehicles

· Buses: the Tilling Group sold its bus interests to the BTC in September 1948, as did the Red & White Group in 1950. Midland General buses and trolleybuses were transferred by the British Electricity Authority. From the railway companies, the BTC also inherited non-controlling interests in many bus companies in the British Electric Traction Group. It also manufactured buses for its own use, through the subsidiaries Bristol Commercial Vehicles and Eastern Coach Works. In London and the surrounding area, the BTC ran both the (red) London buses and the (green) country buses, including Green Line Coaches.

· Docks: British Transport Docks (today known as Associated British Ports), comprising 32 ports taken over from the railway companies.

· Films: the BTC had its own film production company, British Transport Films.

· Hotels & Catering: the former railway hotels and catering departments, later re-organised as British Transport Hotels

· Museums: The BTC inherited the LNER's Railway Museum at York and appointed a Curator of Historical Relics to build up a national collection. Eventually, much of this collection was displayed at the Museum of British Transport at Clapham, south London. This closed in the early 1970s and was superseded by the National Railway Museum at York and the London Transport Museum (now in Covent Garden). The BTC also established the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum.

· Police: the British Transport Police was formed chiefly by the amalgamation of the various railway constabularies

· Railways: British Railways, including ancillary activities like engineering workshops, and London Underground. The former LMS (Northern Counties Committee) lines in Northern Ireland were sold to the Ulster Transport Authority in 1949.

· Road Haulage: the local road distribution networks of the pre-nationalisation rail companies, plus the removals company Pickfords, which the railways had owned jointly. To these were added numerous smaller independent concerns taken over at nationalisation, comprising all undertakings predominantly engaged in ordinary long-distance work for distances of 40 miles or upwards. These networks were later re-organised as British Road Services (BRS).

· Shipping: the former railway steamer services, primarily to France and Ireland and around the Scottish coast, and investments in Associated Humber Lines and the Atlantic Steam Navigation Company

· Tramways: the South London tramways of London Transport, all of which were abandoned by the 5th July 1952

        ·       Travel & Holidays: the travel agents Thomas Cook & Son
         ·       Waterways: canals and navigable rivers, mainly taken over from canal companies, like the Grand Union Canal Company,                  but also including those bought out earlier by the pre-nationalisation railways. The Caledonian Canal was already
            State-owned. The canals are today run by British Waterways. As well as the canal infrastructure, BTC also managed canal
            carrying services.

By the late 1950s the BTC was in serious financial difficulties, largely due to the economic performance of the railways. It was criticised as an overly bureaucratic system of administering transport services and had failed to develop an integrated transport system (such as integrated ticketing and timetabling). It was abolished by Harold Macmillan's Conservative government under the Transport Act 1962 and replaced by five successor bodies:

· the British Railways Board (railways, hotels and some shipping)

· the British Transport Docks Board (docks)

· the British Waterways Board (inland waterways)

· the London Transport Board (London Buses and the London Underground)
· the Transport Holding Company (remaining interests, in shipping, travel and road transport)

These changes took effect on the 1st January 1963. Notwithstanding the abolition of the BTC, the British Transport Police continues to exist. The BTC heraldic shield is still displayed on the BTP badge. Thus under nationalisation the railways were divided from many of their ancillary activities.

The Transport Act 1962, HM Government
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/HMG_ActTransport1962.pdf

Chairmen of the British Transport Commission:

Sir Cyril Hurcomb (1948 - 1953)

General Sir Brian Robertson (1953 - 1961)

Dr Richard Beeching (1961 - 1963)

British Rail (BR)

British Railways was created by nationalisation of the Big Four railway companies in 1948 under the Transport Act 1947. This period of nationalisation saw massive changes in the railway network: steam traction was eliminated in favour of diesel and electric power, passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and the network was severely rationalised. At first British Railways was the brand name for the Railway Executive part of the British Transport Commission but in 1962 it became a separate public corporation as the British Railways Board. BR had a devolved management structure and was divided into regions broadly representing the Big Four railways and later adapted on a geographical basis. This structure lasted until the 1980s when it was replaced by sectors.

The priority in the immediate aftermath of nationalisation was to repair wartime damage and clear the backlog of maintenance work. Some pre-war capital investment schemes that had stopped upon the outbreak of hostilities were restarted (e.g. the Manchester-Sheffield-Wath electrification over the Woodhead route and the Great Eastern suburban electrification). In 1951 BR started building its “Standard” steam locomotives, along with new standard passenger and freight rolling stock. At the same time attempts were made to standardise other engineering standards and operating standards across the organisation wherever possible. So standardisation was a key achievement of British Rail.

The 1955 Modernisation Plan took Britain's railways a major step forward with widespread dieselisation, electrification and modernisation of rolling stock and signalling. Although there were significant mistakes under the Modernisation Plan it did have its successes. Then there was the major rationalisation of the railway network as the result of the Beeching Report and the infamous Beeching Axe. This was a significant achievement and set the railways on a firm foundation for their future. However there were significant mistakes made by the Beeching Axe whose legacy lives on even today.

The British Rail Modernisation Plan 1955
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BTC_Mod001.pdf

The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching Report) Part 1 (1963)
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRB_Beech001a.pdf

The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching Report) Part 2 (1963)
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRB_Beech001b.pdf

BR also transformed rail freight with the establishment of Freightliner container trains, Merry-go-Round coal trains and other trainload services to meet changing circumstances and the needs of industry and other customers.

British Rail Freightliner Brochure 1965
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRB_Freight1965.pdf

British Rail also embraced the multiple unit revolution by introducing diesel multiple units and electric multiple units across the country for passenger services on many local, regional and rural routes. This helped transform services and thus safeguard the future of these lifeline routes especially in isolated rural areas. This revolution went so far as to make locomotive hauled trains a rarity outside freight and intercity services.

British Rail then in 1968 created a clear corporate identity and was re-branded British Rail. This re-branding introduced the double-arrow logo, the standardised typeface (known as “Rail Alphabet”) used for all communications and signs; and the "rail blue" livery, which was applied to nearly all locomotives and rolling stock.

From 1958 to 1974 the West Coast Main Line was electrified in stages on the French system of 25 kV AC overhead line electrification, this having been chosen as the standard system for new electrification north of London. Many commuter lines around London and Glasgow were also electrified, and the Southern Region extended its already extensive pre-war 750 V DC third rail system to the Kent and Dorset coasts.

Glasgow Electric brochure 1960
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRS_Glasgow1960.pdf

BR Your New Railway - London Midland Electrification 1966
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRB_YNR001.pdf

Brochure for the New London Euston 1968
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRLM_Euston1968.pdf

BR Electric All the Way - London to Glasgow 1974
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRLM_Elec002.pdf

A major achievement in the 1970s and early 80s was the introduction of the Intercity 125 High Speed Trains (HST). These transformed rail travel on the Great Western Main Line and later the East Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line and Cross Country. Soon the HST had truly caught the travelling public's imagination, thanks in part to a memorable telelvision advertising campaign fronted by Jimmy Savile, together with the advertising strap-line "This Is The Age Of The Train". BR enjoyed a boom in patronage on the routes operated by the HSTs, and InterCity's profits jumped accordingly - with cross-subsidisation in turn safeguarding the future of rural routes.

British Rail - The High Speed Train (HST) 1977
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRB_HST001.pdf

British Rail - The Advanced Passenger Train (APT)1980
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRB_APT001.pdf

BR also took the railways into the computer age, in 1973 by the introduction of the TOPS system which was a computer system managing the whole of the railway's operations. Then in the 1980s the introduction of the APTIS (Accountancy and Passenger Ticket Issuing System), replaced the Edmondson ticket that had been used since the 1840s and revolutionised railway ticketing and brought into the modern age.

The East Coast Main Line was electrified in stages between 1987 and 1990. For this route the InterCity 225 was introduced and is the fastest loco-hauled domestic train in the UK, comprising a Class 91 electric locomotive, and 9 Mark 4 coaches and a Driving Van Trailer. These revolutionised travel on the East Coast Main Line and continue to be a great success.

Thameslink, a crossrail connecting the northern and southern halves of London's suburban network then opened in 1988; and the Chiltern Line was also extensively modernised so as to open up an additional link between London and Birmingham.

BR's final great achievement was the opening of the Channel Tunnel and the inauguration of the Eurostar high speed service from London to Paris and Brussels in 1994 in partnership with SNCF and SNCB via its European Passenger Services division.

Channel Tunnel Act 1987, HM Government
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/HMG_ActChannelTunnel1987.pdf

Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996, HM Government
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/HMG_Act_CTRL1996.pdf

However the British Rail era was marked by a series of privatisations as various ancillary operations of the railways were hived off and privatised. From its shipping operations and hotels to its railway works everything was divested off and privatised. Sadly this culminated in the phased privatisation of British Rail itself between 1994 and 1997.

Thus today British Rail is no more and the railways are fragmented and privatised while still remaining under significant Government regulation. British Rail was a period of great change, modernisation and transformation for the railways as they adapted to the modern age with the introduction of diesel and electric trains, the disappearance of steam, computerisation of ticketing and management systems. However this period also marked a fragmentation of the railways as their ancillary activities were divested off and eventually privatised. Today the ancillary activities are gone, and all that remains is the railway.

Thus British Rail and its ancillary services, become another of Britain's national institutions that disappeared as a result of privatisation and the impact of globalisation. It is the end of a glorious era as traditional structures are swept away by privatisation and globalisation.

Chairmen of the British Railways Board:

Dr Richard Beeching (1963 - 1965)

Sir Stanley Raymond (1965 - 1967)

Sir Henry Johnson (1967 - 1971)

Sir Richard Marsh (1971 - 1976)

Sir Peter Parker (1976 - 1983)

Sir Robert Reid (1983 - 1990)

Sir Bob Reid (1990 - 1995)

John Welsby (1995 - 1999)